Combination oil salvage and refuse container and display rack



May 7, 1940. H. w. MITCHELL COMBINATION OIL SALVAGE AND REFUSE CONTAINER AND DISPLAY RACK Filed June 22, 1938 1N VENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Patented 7, 1940v COMBINATION OIL SALVAGE AND REFUSE` CONTAINER AND'DISPLAY BACK muy w. Machen, shaker Heights, om, as- .signor to Mitchell Metal Producti, Inc., Cleveland, Ghio, a corporation oi Ohio l Application June 22, 1938, Serial No. 215,290`

8 Claims.

The invention relates, as indicated, to a novel combination oil'salvage and refuse container and' drain the contents of the can into the crank case of the car. Such oil as remains in the can after the can has been thus drained, is usually salvaged by the attendants and either used by them in their own cars or sold to others at reduced prices. It has been estimated that about five per cent of all oil thus sold is salvaged in this manner, so that the customer gets no more than about ninety-live per cent of the oil which he buys.

' This practice naturally provides an inducement for the attendants to salvage increasingly large amounts of oil from each can, and to cheat the customer in this as well as other respects of a petty character.

It is a primary object of the present invention Ito provide a container of the character described which is neatand attractive in appearance, and the use of which will effectively discourage the aforesaid practice of salvaging oil.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container which is not only useful for salvaging oil, but which serves also as a refuse container, as well as a support for a display rack upon which the cans of oil to be sold are conveniently displayed, and are readily accessible to the gas station attendant.

Afurther object of the invention is to provide a container of the aforesaid character which is admirably adapted for use in displaying advertising matter.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims; the annexed drawing and the following description setting forth in detail certain structure embodying the invention, such disclosed structure constituting, however, but one of various structural forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional View of a device embodying the principal features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the device, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view, show- (ci. azi-ss) lng the can retaining fingers on the drainage plate; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the manner of mounting the display rack.

Referring now particularly to the drawing the 5 device comprises a sheet metal cabinet having a closed front I, sides 2, and a back comprising a curved sheet 3 secured to and extending between the sides. The front and sides are formed to provide legs 4 for the support of the cabinet.

The upper portions of the sides 2 are cut away adjacent the front of the cabinet to provide space for a ledge 0r cover 5, which is hinged at the rear, as at 6, and which may be lifted at times to expose an opening l in the cabinet. Above and to the rear of thel ledge 5 is an opening 8, the function of which will hereafter appear, this opening being normally closed by a gravity closing door 8a, hinged to the cabinet at its upper edge.

Extending entirely across the cabinet, and from a point adacent the lower edge of the opening 8 to a point intermediate the rear edges of the sides 2 of the cabinet, is a sheet 9, which is curved reversely to the back sheet 3. The space between the lower edges of the sheets 3 and 9 is open and is adapted to b e closed by means of a door I0, hinged at its lower edge to a flange II of the sheet 3. The door I0 is provided adjacent its upper edge, with a catch IZ engageable with the rear face of the lower edge of the top sheet 3 for the purpose of retaining the door in closed position. With the door Ill in closed position, a chamber or receptacle I3 is provided, which is defined by the sheets 3 and 9, the doors 8a and I0, and the portions of the sides 2 extending between the sheets 3 and 9. Refuse of a dry character may be thrown into this receptacle through the opening 8. By opening the door I0 the refuse Within the receptacle I3 may be periodically removed.

Secured to the cabinet, immediately below the opening 1 is a plate I4, having a multiplicity of spaced openings I5 of a diameter slightly larger than that of an ordinary quart can of oil, such as is usually sold by gasoline filling stations. Each of these openings is bounded by a ange I6, and to each of the flanges is secured a plurality of converging circumferentially spaced downwardly extending wires I1. These wires are adapted to resiliently engage the side of a can of the aforesaid character and hold the can pending drainage of the contents thereof. To facilitate insertion of the cans in the openings l5, without opening the cover -5 to its fullest extent, 55

and also, to facilitate the removal of the cans from the openings, as will be presently described, the plate I4 is inclined slightly towards the front of the cabinet. as shown.

Supported below the plate I4 in any suitable manner is a pan I9 which extends substantially the entire width of the cabinet, is open at the top, and is, provided at the bottom, adjacent one end of the pan with an opening 20, covered by a strainer 2|. Disposed below this opening, and resting on a pan 22, is a receptacle 23, which is preferably about the size of the ordinary fivequart oil can. The pan 22 rests on the bottom 24 of the cabinet, so as to be readily removable through an opening between the flange I I and the bottom 24, which opening is normally closed by a door 26, hinged at its lower edge to the rear edge of the bottom 24. The door 26 is provided at its upper edge with a latch 21, which may be locked, as by a key-actuated lock.

The cabinet also serves to support a display rack for unused cans of oil, and for this purpose is provided adjacent its sides with vertically spaced pairs of lugs or clips 29 and 30.

The rack consists of spaced bars 3I having hook-like upper ends adapted to engage over the clips 29 and having their lower ends engaging behind the clips 30. Secured to each of the bars 3I at spaced points therealong are brackets 32 having rearwardly inclined upper portions 33 forming supports for angles 34, two angles being secured to each pair of brackets and being spaced apart sufciently to support the quart cans 35 of oil, which are to be displayed. When the front of the cabinet is to be cleaned, the entire rack may be removed by unhooking it from the clips 29.

In the use of the device, a can willl be removed by the attendant from the rack and punctured so that its contents may be drained into the purchasers car. After the contents have been thus drained, a certain amount of the oil, the amount depending on the viscosity and temperature of the oil and the extent to which the can has been drained, will remain in the can, adhering to the walls and bottom thereof.

The attendants will then lift the cover 5 of the cabinet and insert the can, bottom side up, in one of the openings I5, pushing the can downward until the bottom thereof is substantially flush with the plate I4. To the casual observer it will appear that the can has been merely thrown into a receptacle, and this illusion will be heightened by the fact that the lid or cover 5 is immediately dropped into its normal position, concealing the can from view. Actually the can will be retained in the position to which it is pushed by the attendant by the resilient nger I1, and will be left in this position, until the remaining oil has drained therefrom into the pan I9, the oil then passing through the opening 20 and thence into the receptacle 23, which is large enough to receive the salvaged contents of a large number of oil cans.

After all of the available openings I5 are occupied by cans which have been inserted therein to be drained, the operator or attendant will then push the next can to be drained into one of the occupied openings, thereby forcing the can which thus occupies said opening downwardly and beyond the tension of the ingers I1. 'I'he can which is thus pushed downwardly beyond the control of the ngers I1 falls through the space between the pan I9 and the curved sheet 9, and into the pan 22, providing space for the can which replaces it, the latter being then held in draining position by the fingers I1. 'Ihe pan 22 is sulciently large to hold a large number of drained cans.

Since the portion of the cabinet into which the cans fall and in which the salvage receptacle 28 is disposed, is closed -and locked, as by a key which is retained only by the owner vor operator of the gas station, the attendants at the gas station will not have access to the receptacle 23, and hence cannot use this oil in their own cars or sell it to others. This will tend to discourage cheating of customers by depriving the latter of the maxi-l mum available contents of the quart cans, and since the owner or operator will have an accurate check on the number of cans sold from the number of empty cans in the pan 22, it is not likely that the attendants will attempt to salvage the oil by draining the contents of cans into a receptacle other than the present one, which will be the only one provided at the station. Since the owner or operator of the station is not interested in cheating his customers in the aforesaid petty manner, he will seeto it that the receptacle 23 will always contain a minimumA amount of 'oil commensurate with the number of empty cans in the cabinet.

In view of the neat and attractive appearance of the cabinet, it is well adapted for the display of advertising matter, and for this purpose the sides 2 of the cabinet may be provided with holders 36 into which cards 31, bearing suitable .advertising matter, may be inserted. The holders 36 may be utilized for supporting additional display racks, if desired.

Instead of the wires or fingers I1, any other means may be employed for temporarily holding tlfie cans pending drainage of the contents thereo Other modes of applying the principle of `my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the form or construction herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

l. A device of the character described, comprising a cabinet having a closed compartment therein, and a plate mounted in said compartment having a plurality of openings therein, each opening having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced resilient metallic iingers extending downwardly from points adjacent the periphery of the openings, said finger being spaced more closely at their lower ends than at their upper ends.

2. A device of the character described comprising a cabinet having an oil salvage compartment, a plate mounted in said compartment having openings of a size to receive oil vcans to be drained, means comprising resilient fingers for retaining the cans in said openings, said fingers being formed of metal, and means to receive the oil drained from said cans.

3. A device of the character described comprising a cabinet having an oil salvage compartment, a plate mounted in said compartment and arranged at an angle to a horizontal plane, said plate having openings to receive the cans from which the oil is to be salvaged, means extending from said plate for temporarily retaining said cans while oil is drained therefrom, and a pan arranged below said openings to receive said u salvaged oil, the relative arrangement of said means and pan being such that the cans when pushed idownwardly clear of said means will clear said pan and i'all to the bottom of said cabinet.

4. A device of the character. described comprising a cabinet having an oli salvage compartment and an opening leading into said compartment, a plate having openings therein and arranged below said opening, and a cover for said iirst-named opening for normally concealing the openings in said plate, said plate having means for temporarily retaining in said plate openings cans i'rom which oil is to be drained.

5. A device of the character described comprising. a cabinet having an oil salvage compartment and an opening leading into said compartment, a plate arranged below said opening, said plate having spaced openings for receiving cans from which the oil is to be salvaged, means for temporarily retaining said cans during the salvaging operation, a receptacle for collecting the salvaged oil, and a pan removable from said cabinet and adapted to receive the cans following the draining of oil therefrom.

6. A liquid salvaging device comprising a support and downwardly extending resilient metallic fingers secured thereto, said fingers being spaced more closely at their lower ends than at their upper ends and so arranged as to be capable of frictionally retaining a container in a position i'or draining the contents thereof.

7. A device of the character described comprising a plate having an opening therein, and downwardly extending resilient metallic lingers spaced circumferentialiy about said opening and secured to said plate, said lingers being spaced more closely at their lower ends than at their upper ends and adapted to frictionally retain a container in a position for draining the contents thereof.

8. A device o! the character described comprising a cabinet having two compartments, one i'or dry refuse and the other for salvaging liquids from containers, said salvaging compartment having means therein for temporarily retaining cans while the contents thereof are being salvaged, an exit through which the empty cans are-removed, and a closure for said exit, said dry refuse compartment having a portion extending toa point below the lower level of said canretaining means. so that when said closure is opened. said can-retaining means are from view by said extension.

HARRY W.

concealed 

